Free Evenings
by Vixen of Light
Summary: Ron and Hermione have a free evening to spend in the common room...but it never goes to Ron's plan. Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny.


Ron lounged back in the overstuffed armchair in the common room, closing his eyes to relax in the warmth of the merrily burning fire.

"Harry's taken Ginny for a midnight broom ride," he answered the dark haired girl beside him, trying and failing to sound disapproving. She knew as well as he that he was delighted, deep down, that his best friend had fallen for his little sister and trusted him as he did no-one else.

"Aw, that's lovely," Hermione smiled, approvingly. "They're just right for each other." She perched herself on the arm of the chair, a faintly wistful edge to her expression. "That's so romantic, too."

"Pining?" Ron snorted, opening his eyes to raise an eyebrow at her. She laughed, shaking her cloud of hair.

"I'm glad they're happy...she's waited long enough for him to realise," she glanced sharply at Ron out of the corner of her eye, and he turned his eyes away, flustered, hoping the faint flush on his cheeks looked like nothing more than the heat of the fire.

"So..." he cleared his throat. "Since it's just...the two of us..." the flush deepened. "Want to...play chess, or something?"

"Maybe," she answered, her smile widening, eyes hooding just a touch. Sometimes, he hated how...how _secretive_ she looked. Like she knew something he didn't, just because of one tiny movement he had made or something silly like that. Girls. "It's nice to just...you know, sit and chat for a bit. We haven't had the time to do that a lot recently..."

He shrugged; it was perfectly true. They knew, somehow, that this wouldn't, couldn't last...Voldemort was rising and they would be fighting soon; Harry would come to the end of his lessons with Dumbledore and...well, who knew? The fear, the anticipation, was palpable, all through the school. Everyone knew something had to happen soon, and that they wouldn't all make it through. Everyone was grabbing their moments where they could. Ron shifted awkwardly at the hot, heady thought.

"Sure," he said, turning in his chair to face Hermione a little more. Her eyes sparkled in the firelight. She's kind of beautiful, he realised, just sitting there in her uniform with her hair unbrushed and slightly dishevelled from the day. All those wonderful shades of brown.

"Uh," he managed, trying to verbalise this in a smooth, seductive way. She tilted her head on one side, expectant.

"So...how was Runes?" he finished, with an internal sigh. It never came out how he wanted. Did she look a little disappointed, somehow? What, did she _know_? Surely not, she would _say_ something herself, right? This was Hermione, who never had a problem saying things. It was one of the things he liked about her. She wasn't afraid to stand up for her thoughts.

"Really interesting," she said, reaching to pull out a book, sleeves shaking up her arms. "It's fascinating, we learned that Gebo can mean up to six different things in context..."

He laughed and grabbed her arm to stop her leaping into a full example from the textbook. "It's going to go right over my head, you know that?"

She glanced down to where his hand pressed against the bare skin of her arm, gentle and warm. Her skin was so soft, he thought incongruously, before he realised and dropped her arm like a hot cake. She looked up at him, the strangest expression on her face, before she pulled her arm primly back and pressed it against her body. He took his own hand back, slowly.

"Well..." she said, softly. "It was very interesting, anyway."

A mildly discomfited silence fell. He stared back into the fire for a moment, wondering just what it was that always seemed to go so surreally, unreasoningly _wrong_ between them, and why he never minded, deep down, why it felt so right to have these strange and stupid moments.

"Are you afraid?" Hermione asked, suddenly and unexpectedly. Ron turned his head sharply, concerned, looking back into her face.

"What, of Voldemort? Of...of helping Harry?" His tone became fierce. "Because I will, you know. I'm not letting him down or anything. I'll stay with him until...the end."

"I know you will," she said. "As will I. He's just...he's _Harry_, you know? It's not because he's the Chosen One or anything. It's because he's our friend, he needs us." She fidgeted a little. "And...because it's you, too. I won't let you go and do anything by yourself."

Ron felt his heart trip in his chest for just a moment, before he managed a smile. "Thank you," he said, nodding. "Then...no, I guess, really, I'm not afraid." He quirked his lips upwards a little more. "With everything you know, there's nothing that can surprise us, right? You're a genius!"

She really blushed at that. "Oh Ron! You...do you think so?"

"Of course, silly," he said, surprised she even had to ask. She looked up at him, so genuinely pleased her face seemed to glow. It seemed entirely natural to tilt his head down closer to hers, watch her eyelids flutter in hungry anticipation. She really was beautiful...

"...couldn't believe it! Aw, Harry, it was so amazing..." Ron jerked back sharply and spun away to face the fire again as Harry and Ginny clattered noisily through the portrait, cuddling close, faces bright and animated with happiness. Hermione's face blanked over as she turned to look at them. Ron noticed, with a pang, how totally in tune with each other's movements they were; how they anticipated each other's needs completely. He glanced briefly at Hermione, but her face wore nothing than a friendly, empty smile.

"Hey, you two! We saw the Merpeople, it was so cool..." Harry stopped, eyes narrowing slyly. "Are you two OK? Did we interrupt anything?" Ginny stopped stroking Harry's arm and lifted an eyebrow at her brother and Hermione, who was standing up from her perch on the chair, unconcernedly.

"Um," he said again, and Hermione cut neatly in with,

"We were just talking about Runes..."

"Sounds fascinating," said Harry, amused doubt riding all over his words. Smug git, thought Ron, rolling his eyes at his and Ginny's identical beaming faces.

"Come on, love," Ginny pulled on Harry's arm, subtle as a brick. Stupid sister. What did she know, anyway? "Let's see if we can sneak a last minute snack from Dobby!"

"I could just go for a Cauldron Cake," Harry agreed, and they turned to hurry out, giggling to each other as they scrambled through the portrait. In the silence that followed, Ron turned with exaggerated nonchalance to Hermione.

"What was _that_ all about?"

"Oh Ron," Hermione gave another one of those stupid secretive smiles. "They're just being polite, in their own way..." She sighed at his baffled expression. "Well, at least they had a good night."

"I had a good night!" Ron exclaimed. "It's good to just be with you!"

Hermione started, then her smile blossomed into a full grin. "You too, Ron. Always." She yawned. "I'd better get some sleep...I've got Arithmancy at 9 tomorrow..."

"Sleep well," he said, and on impulse, added, "We should do this again, properly. I'll get some snacks and we can have an evening of it, how about it?"

"I'd love that," she said, softly. "Sleep well, Ron."

His chest convulsed again at the way she said his name. So tender on her lips. "'Night, Hermione," he whispered, and she was gone.

Ron settled back in his chair. Well, he was free tomorrow night and he knew Harry was having a picnic with Ginny. Since there was nothing else to do...


End file.
